Great Britain beaten by USA in decisive late-night Davis Cup doubles finish

Despite a long, hard fight into the early hours of Thursday morning in the group stages of the Davis Cup Finals, Great Britain eventually succumbed to the United States 2-1 in Glasgow as Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury were defeated in a deciding doubles rubber at 0:58am.

The marathon tie of three three-set matches began at 4pm as Tommy Paul outlasted Dan Evans 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the battle of the second-ranked players. Cameron Norrie pulled Great Britain level on Wednesday night, recovering from a set down to defeat Taylor Fritz 2-6, 7-6(2), 7-5 and set the stage for a decisive doubles rubber. After two hours and 49 minutes of drama, the star US doubles team of Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock outlasted Joe Salisbury and Andy Murray 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 to seal the tie.

It was always likely to be the most difficult tie for both Great Britain and the US, two evenly matched teams. In the first rubber, the attacking mindset of the much-improved Paul drove him to victory against Evans in an intense, high-quality encounter on the slow courts in Glasgow.

“It’s difficult. It’s a tough one. But another good effort,” said Evans. “That’s Davis Cup, isn’t it? They’re all tough matches. We knew this one was going to be tough. It certainly proved to be for me. I played good tennis. Just couldn’t get over the line.”

An even more difficult challenge awaited Norrie, who rose to a new career high ranking of No 8 this week, as he faced the much improved Fritz, the winner at Indian Wells earlier this year who has established himself at the forefront of US men’s tennis and currently sits at No 12 in the rankings.

For much of the match, Fritz smothered Norrie with big serving and controlled aggression. He breezed through the opening set, then generated a